Texas More than Doubles its Renewable Energy Requirement

FPL Energy's 278-megawatt King Mountain Wind Ranch is one of many wind power plants built in Texas to meet the requirements set in 1999.Credit: Todd Spink

Texas Governor Rick Perry signed a bill on August 1st that will
significantly increase the state's requirement for the use of
renewable energy in its electrical supply. Senate Bill 20 (SB 20)
requires the state's generating capacity from renewable energy sources
to reach 5,880 megawatts by 2015, an amount capable of producing about
5 percent of the state's electricity needs. It also sets a goal of
reaching 10,000 megawatts in renewable energy capacity by 2025. The
bill helps to further diversify the state's sources of energy by
requiring that 500 megawatts be produced by renewable energy sources
other than wind power. The bill instructs the Public Utility
Commission (PUC) of Texas to require utilities to add to their
transmission systems as necessary to meet the renewable energy goal,
and to allow utilities to recover the cost of such projects in their
electric rates. See the governor's press release and the text of the bill (PDF 47 KB). Download Adobe Reader.

The previous requirement, set in 1999, was for 2,880 megawatts of
renewable power by 2009, an increase of 2,000 megawatts over the
880 megawatts of renewable generating capacity that was installed at
that time. However, the PUC announced in March that the state would
probably meet that goal by the end of this year. According to the PUC,
wind power accounts for 96 percent of the renewable energy capacity
added in the state since 1999. See the PUC of Texas press release.